1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal such as an electronic note-taking device, a portable game player, a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) phone, a game phone, a chatting phone, a Moving Pictures Expert Group Layer 3 (MP3 ) phone, a cellular phone, a Personal Communication Services (PCS), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a Hand-Held Phone (HHP). More particularly, the present invention relates to a cradle to charge a portable terminal or connect the portable terminal to another device.
2. Discussion of the Background
In addition to a mobile communication function, a variety of terminals that are specialized in particular functions are used, such as an electronic note-taking device specialized in schedule management or a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP) specialized in gaming or playing multimedia. Typically, “portable terminal” refers to an electronic device that a user carries and uses to wirelessly communicate with another party.
Owing to increased integration levels of circuits and the development of wireless communication technology that enables high-speed, large-volume information transmission, portable terminals are advancing to support finance functions such as small-sum payments while also functioning as all of an electronic note-taking device, a multimedia player, and a mobile communication terminal.
Conventionally, portable terminals may be classified as bar-type, flip-type, or foldertype according to their appearance. A bartype terminal has a single bar-shaped housing. A flip housing is rotatably engaged with a bar-shaped housing by a hinge device in a flip-type terminal. A folder-type terminal is configured so that a folder is rotatably connected to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge device to be folded over or unfolded from the housing. Together with the folder-type terminal, a sliding-type terminal with a pair of housings in slidable engagement is gaining a high market share. Also, the advent of a swing-type terminal contributes to meeting various user tastes.
The proliferation of portable terminals has led to the reinforcement of portable terminal-based commercial services, for example, multimedia functions including gaming, moving picture playing, and music file reproduction. Therefore, users may enjoy portable terminals for a variety of purposes and mobile communication service providers may have new profit opportunities.
Although servicing multimedia users, portable terminals may not be effective in providing diverse multimedia services.
For example, portable terminals may be miniaturized to enhance portability but their small size may be an obstacle to installation of a display large enough to view broadcast programs or moving pictures. Moreover, a small portable terminal has limitations in offering high-quality sound when a user enjoys music. That is, there is a difficulty in installing a speaker of a size great enough to provide high capacity and high-quality sound in a small portable terminal.
With the limited capacity of a storage medium in a portable terminal due to its miniaturization, large-volume moving picture files may be difficult to store. That is, if a portable terminal is equipped with a semiconductor storage medium like a high-capacity flash memory, its cost may increase. On the other hand, if a cheap and large-capacity storage medium like a hard disk relative to a flash memory is used for the portable terminal, the portable terminal may get heavier and larger, thereby impairing portability.
Consequently, even if a portable terminal has a multimedia player function, it may not perform fully because of limits on output devices such as a display or a speaker and limited storage capacity.